SC - Columbus' chilies

[Christine A Seelye-King]

Ah, a subject near and dear to my Lord's heart.  We found this same quote
in the "Columbus Menus", which was put out in 1992 for the 500th
anniversary of his 'discovery' of Hispaniola.  I don't have it to hand
just now, but further digging led us to believe that chilis were taken
back by the ship's doctor, and utilized as a medicinal before becoming
accepted as a spice.   I don't recall where we found this, (great
documentation, huh? ) but I will forward this on to him and we'll see if
we can't dig that info up again.  
Christianna

On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:54:02 -0500 "Decker, Terry D."
<TerryD at Health.State.OK.US> writes:
> A translation of the Diario of Christopher Columbus came into my 
> hands last
> night at my favorite used book store.  The Diario is a manuscript 
> copy by a
> Spanish priest of the diary Columbus kept during his first voyage
> (1492-1493).  This particular translation is a scholarly work with 
> the
> complete text of the diary and the translation on opposing pages.  
> Footnotes
> are copious and previous translations are referenced for additional 
> clarity.
> 
> One of the comments which caught my eye was to the effect, the chili 
> is the
> pepper of these islands and Columbus believed he could ship 50 
> caravels of
> chilies from Hispanola to Spain every year.
> 
> Did he carry out his plan?  Possibly.  He was govenor of Hispanola 
> until
> 1500.  Given the fantastic profits on the 200 to 300 tons of black 
> pepper
> imported into Europe each year, being able to deliver 10 times that 
> amount
> of the new chili pepper would be a serious temptation for a man of 
> Columbus'
> ambition.
> 
> There is pictorial evidence that peppers could be found in Spanish 
> kitchens
> during the 16th Century, but beyond that, evidence for the use of 
> chilies in
> Europe seems to be non-existent.  The Portuguese had introduced 
> grains of
> paradise no more than 70 years prior to Columbus' voyage and they 
> were
> accepted and widely used.  Why not chilies?
> 
> It is possible the Portuguese spice trade with the East Indies 
> overwhelmed
> the fledging spice trade with the West Indies, but the first 
> Portuguese
> spices didn't reach the market until 1500 and it was 1503 before 
> they broke
> the pepper monopoly by returning with 1300 tons of black pepper.  
> 
> Given the European taste for spices and Columbus' intent to export 
> them to
> Spain in quantity, chilies should have been a winner.  That there is 
> limited
> evidence for their use makes me curious as to why they apparently 
> did not
> come into common use.
> 
> Bear
>
=========================================================================
===
> 
> To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message 
> to
> Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe 
> SCA-Cooks".
> 
>
=========================================================================
===

________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagh.